Unity was not emboldening the Union Army leadership. In Washington, many important figures were continuing to plot McClellan’s downfall. The Secretary of War was brazenly seeking statements from anyone that help build his case that the general was at fault for the defeat by not completing his assault on Richmond. As well, the secretary was criticizing his withdrawal as “being made dilatory fashion.” The withdrawal had nothing to do with the general; in fact he protested his orders from Washington the entire month of August. There was a slight delay; in fact, between the time Halleck ordered the sick and sounded to be evacuated and the time the full withdrawal from Harrison’s Landing took place. This led to Halleck complaining that the general “had not obeyed orders ‘with the promptness I expected and the national safety, in my…
aggressive leader. General Hooker spearheaded the Union assault at the Battle of Antietam, which ended in a stalemate. During the devastating Union defeat at the Battle of Fredericksburg, General Hooker’s units sustained heavy casualties. General Hooker recognized the futility of the Union’s effort to assault the Confederate forces that were firmly entrenched and repeatedly repelled the Union’s assaults. After the defeat at Fredericksburg, General Hooker was so critical of the leadership…
In April 1861, General Robert E. Lee was offered command of the Union Army by Abraham Lincoln. Lee declined this offer writing “I cannot raise my hand against my birthplace, my home, my children,” (p.81). The General a few days later, accepted his appointment as commander in chief to Virginia;s military. Lee knew that the North was plentiful in resources so they would win a war of abrasion. With this in mind, he hoped that the south could win a few battles and pressure Lincoln to stop the…
It was not only the first major battle of the Union and Confederate Armies, but it was also the Union’s first loss. The battle took place on 21 July 1861 and it referred as the battle of Manassas, however, became known as the Battle of the Bull Run due to meander stream where the battle took placed named Bull Run. It is important to point out that the battle was in repercussion from the attack of the Confederates Armies at Fort Sumter on 12 April 1861 near Charlestown South Carolina, “this is…
volunteers” (41). After this, another bill for an additional five hundred thousand was signed. This action showed that Lincoln was serious about the war. He knew they needed troops, so he made sure that the Union got them. Another instance of Lincoln’s direct involvement was when “at the end of January he issues two orders to force Halleck and Buell as well as McClellan into action” (69). With this order, Lincoln wanted “principle union armies to advance more or less simultaneously to threaten…
As if by accident, elements of the Army of the Potomac happened upon a column of confederate infantry and artillery on the outskirts of Gettysburg. This unit, a cavalry division under the command of Major General John Buford, was able to hold off the confederate troops until they could be reinforced by a division of infantry. However, the confederates were able to reinforce their troops first, and ended up overwhelming the Federal troops, who ran pell-mell through the streets of Gettysburg…
and setting of the story. His use of the present tense, while differing from the rest of the novel, gives a sense of immediacy to the situation. It is like listening to a newscaster report live on an unfolding crisis. He makes sure that the reader knows about the opposing armies and how they differ. Shaara’s assessment of the Army of the Potomac is equally masterful as he juxtaposed them with the Army of Northern Virginia. Shaara wrote, “It is a strange new kind of army, a polyglot mass of…
On December 1st, 1861, Abraham Lincoln sends a memorandum inquiring on the Potomac Campaign to George B. McClellan, Commanding General of the Army of the Potomac. In the memorandum Lincoln, asks three questions to McClellan, but his first question, “.. how long would it require to actually get in motion?” followed by the subsequent campaign plan to attack the Confederate Army at Centerville, highlights an underlying tone of anxiety. Furthermore, Lincoln suggests that the Confederates, if…
American Civil War. The first war in the Overland Campaign was the Battle of the Wilderness.Midnight on May 3-4, 1864, the Army of the Potomac and the Independent Ninth Corps, with approximately 120,000 men, left camps in Culpeper County and headed south toward the Rapidan River fords. They fought in the dense thickets known as the Wilderness of Spotsylvania against the Army of Northern Virginia. Over the course of two days, the armies fought an extremely bloody battle, introducing a new era of…
Use of Cavalry in the Gettysburg Campaign SSG Schumacher. John P. SLC Class 15-005 C.S.A.’s Use of Cavalry in the Gettysburg Campaign The purpose of this paper is conduct battle analysis of Lee’s Second Invasion of the North which led to Gettysburg Campaign during the American Civil War and to identify how this battle’s outcome could have changed had intelligence been used differently. I assert that had the Army of Northern Virginia of the Confederate States of America utilized its…